The protesters, upset that Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying has refused to meet them, have threatened to expand their demonstrations unless he resigns and the Chinese leadership agrees to broader electoral reforms.

The ceremony was held to mark the anniversary of the founding of communist China in 1949, and after the hundreds of protesters yelled at Leung to step down, they then fell silent and turned their backs when the ceremony began.

Protest leaders were working on their response and it wasn’t clear what they planned to do next. Options include widening the protests, pushing for a labour strike and occupying a government building.

Chan Kin-man, one of the leaders of the Occupy Central movement, said the protests would continue as long as the Hong Kong government failed to give a satisfactory response to their demands for genuine democratic reforms for the territory’s first direct elections in 2017.

Hong Kong’s Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying, centre, watches as military personnel march during a flag-raising ceremony on Wednesday, October 1, in Hong Kong, as thousands of protesters watching from behind police barricades yelled at him to step down – AP

“I hope people will understand why the action keeps on escalating. It’s because the government is getting more and more closed without listening to Hong Kong people,” he told The Associated Press in an interview on the street. “If the government can give us a proper response in due course I think we can end the occupation immediately.”

Because it was a holiday, many families with children joined the thousands of protesters who thronged a six-lane highway in front of the government headquarters in the Admiralty area of Hong Kong. Many were students but there were also couples, retirees and foreigners who live in the city of seven million.

They are posing the stiffest challenge to Beijing’s authority since China took control of the former British colony in 1997.

The protesters oppose Beijing’s decision last month that candidates for the territory’s top post in the 2017 elections must be approved by a committee of mostly pro-Beijing local elites similar to the one that picked Leung for the job.

The protesters don’t want any such restrictions and see China as reneging on a promise that the chief executive will be chosen through “universal suffrage”.

Pierre Wong, a 36-year-old IT support technician, said it was his first day to join the protests that started last Friday.

“I hope there will be democratic reform, instead of using the current framework,” he said. “I came out today to support the movement. No student leaders or occupy leaders urged me to come out. I came out on my own.”

In his speech, Leung made no direct mention of the protesters, but he told voters it is better to agree to Beijing’s plans for nominating candidates and to hold an election, than to stick with the current system of having an Election Commission choose the chief executive.

“It is definitely better to have universal suffrage than not,” Leung said. “It is definitely better to have the chief executive elected by 5 million eligible voters than by 1,200 people. And it is definitely better to cast your vote at the polling station than to stay home and watch on television the 1,200 members of the Election Committee cast their votes.”